Method for rapid purification, analysis and characterizations of collections of chemical compounds

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a method for the processing of molecules by determining one or more selection parameters for a plurality of molecules; selecting a compatible grouping of molecules based on the selection parameters to form a set; forming a mixture of molecules of interest from the set; and resolving the mixture to fractionate the molecules of interest. The preferred method utilizes HPLC chromatography column to resolve and purify molecules which have different retention times.

This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/418,233, filed Apr. 6, 1995, now abandoned.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to methods to manage the purification of a large number of closely related chemical compounds. More particularly the invention relates to the separation of mixtures which were deliberately created from a set of compounds with distinct chromatographic retention times, distinct molecular weights, or other distinguishing features. In a preferred embodiment, a set of n compounds of distinct chromatographic retention times are combined, and then separated in a single chromatographic run, allowing a savings of time relative to the alternative of making n chromatographic runs. The present invention further relates to methods for separating compounds with at least one distinguishing feature by separations other than chromatography.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Currently, there are many general methods of purifying synthetic compounds. These methods, which involve purification of a single target compound from multiple impurities, are undesirable for any multiple unit synthesis because the chromatography of large numbers of compounds are difficult to chromatograph in series is very time-consuming and inefficient. This problem is multiplied in a many step synthesis; the requirement of purifying after each step consumes much time.

One example of a conventional technique for simultaneously synthesizing up to 36 individual peptides and thereafter screening said peptides is disclosed in an article by R. N. Zuckerman et al. entitled "Identification of highest-affinity ligands by affinity selection from equimolar peptide mixtures generated by robotic synthesis," Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., USA, Vol. 89, pp. 4505-09, May 1992.

For purification of an array, or a large number of compounds, the prior art teaches a repetitive method of chromatographing individual compounds. This constitutes a full cycle of synthesis, work-up, and purification for each molecule. While parallel synthesis has been a challenging issue, it is logistically far less complex and time consuming than parallel work-up and purification.

In general, there are several drawbacks with the teachings of conventional methods used by the prior art. In multistep procedures, there is a complexity not involved in single-step procedures, such that there is a greater possibility of error. Additionally, multistep procedures take more time and may use more reagents, and thus are more expensive. Further, the performance of these multiple chromatograms requires large amounts of solvent and time. The repetitive use and wear of columns and packings and subsequent loss of resolution is an additional consideration that could be remedied by consolidation of individual steps.

Therefore, it would be desirable to conduct chemical separations and purifications in a more efficient manner. The present invention provides various solutions to this problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is based, in part, on the surprising discovery that concurrent coincidental chromatography of desired compounds is a practical, useful method for adequately purifying impure materials. The inventors observed that retention times of similar, but not identical, compounds possess baseline resolution or near-baseline resolution in HPLC chromatography. The present inventors also unexpectedly observed that a mixture of such crude individual compounds provided pure components upon simultaneous preparative chromatographic processing.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method by which time, labor and expense is saved by combination of crude compounds for simultaneous purification.

Another object is to provide a method by which time, labor and expense is saved by combination of crude compounds and/or reaction mixtures for workup and simultaneous purification.

Another object is to a method by which time, labor and expense is saved by a combination of crude mixtures, or even reactants for reaction, quenching, workup and simultaneous purification.

Yet another object of the present invention is to enable the synthesis of compounds in a large array format, previously thought to be impractical due to the presence of impurities, for the express purpose of generating large libraries for screening or other use.

Many other advantages are realized over the prior art with the present invention, for example, the practical capability for performing non-quantitative, average-yielding reactions in large numbers, due to the fact that now large numbers of compounds may be purified in parallel. Thus, separations which require only one step can be conducted with a significant savings in time. The current method teaches simultaneous chromatography of created mixtures and allows the processing of a much larger number of compounds with the same equipment and unit operations.

The present invention may be more fully understood by reference to the following detailed description, examples of specific embodiments and appended figures which are offered for purposes of illustration only and not by way of limitation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a stacked composite of individual chromatograms of Compounds A-E as synthesized, prior to combination and purification.

FIG. 2 is a preparative HPLC chromatogram of equimolar mixture of Compounds A-E.

FIG. 3 is a stacked composite of individual chromatograms of Compounds A-E after simultaneous chromatography.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Definitions

The following terms are used in the present invention to have the meanings set forth below:

"HPLC" encompasses "high performance liquid chromatography".

"Target molecule" refers to a molecule which is intended to be manipulated for the purposes of separation and/or purification. The target molecule, by definition, has no impurities.

"Molecule of interest" refers to a target molecule in a phase which, prior to the application of a purification procedure, comprises both individual target molecules and at least one impurity molecule.

"Set of molecules" is a collection of related or unrelated molecules grouped for the purpose of eased manipulation, but not combined. Within a set of molecules, the user of the process defines which molecules are target molecules.

"Mixture" encompasses a set of molecules that has been combined deliberately for the sole purpose of expediting a unit operation or a chemical transformation.

"Purification" encompasses the eliminating of undesired contaminants and the recovery of desired material in an acceptable level of homogeneity.

"Unit operation" encompasses any manipulation on a set of molecules as a whole, for example screening, work-up or purification.

"Selection parameter" refers to a physical property that is distinct for all target molecules in a set of molecules. One example of a selection parameter can be retention time in HPLC.

"Binding capability" refers to the capacity of a molecule or support to interact in a non-covalent fashion with a specified or unspecified ligand in a thermodynamically-favored process.

"Compatible molecules" means molecules that do not chemically react with one another to form distinct chemical compounds.

Method for Resolution of Molecules

According to one embodiment, the invention comprises a method for the resolution of molecules comprising four steps. First, one or more selection parameters are determined for each member of a set of molecules. A selection parameter could be retention time on HPLC. In this case, the HPLC retention time of each member of the set would be determined analytically or experimentally. Typically, for conventional chromatography equipment, analytical retention times with 15 to 90 seconds difference are preferable and the total operating window can be in the range of 15 to 150 minutes.

Second, the molecules are selected on the basis of chemical compatibility and difference in at least one selection parameter. Chemical compatibility requires that selected molecules not react with one another to form distinct compounds. Difference in selection parameters requires that the selected molecules be distinguishable by experimental methods within the ability of one of ordinary skill in the art. For example, if HPLC retention time were the selection parameter, then the selection process requires each selected target molecule have a distinct HPLC retention time.

Third, the selected molecules of interest would be combined together in any suitable manner, such as by simple mixing.

Fourth, the molecules of interest would be fractionated, such that the impurity level in the molecules of interest is lowered as a result of application of the method. The level of purity of a molecule of interest is somewhat arbitrary and dependent the particular application. Typically purities for one or more of these compounds of about 65% or more are required, and purities greater than 80-90% are often desired. Use of this invention can easily achieve these purities.

This embodiment of the present invention is based on the discovery that, while it is counterintuitive to ever decrease the purity of a molecule in the course of purification, it is convenient to combine, then simultaneously purify, easily separable compounds. Therefore, combining compatible, crude molecules of interest, then chromatographing all of them simultaneously results in a substantial savings in time and material.

The selection of mixtures for the present method of purification via reversible absorptive interactions with the surface of a chromatographic stationary phase is based on knowing the retention time (RT) of every molecule to be purified in a given chromatographic system. The retention times can be sorted by time and combined so as to effect the an efficient throughput for the purification of the set of molecules. A molecule of interest can therefore be combined with other molecules of interest in the set under a given set of selection parameters. Examples of selection parameters can be chromatographic column load, minimum retention time difference, amount of a given molecule, and the maximum underlying impurity allowed to co-elute with a molecule of interest. L. R. Snyder and J. J. Kirkland, Introduction to Modern Liquid Chromatography, 1st ed., Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1974.

For example, each molecule of interest can be associated with a given chromatographic peak at a given retention time. Each time a new molecule of interest is proposed to be mixed with another molecule of interest or with a sub-set of the set of molecules to afford a new mixture, the following must be applied:

#1. The selection parameter of the new molecule of interest must be compared to the selection parameters of the other molecules of interest already in the sub-set. There must not be a match.

#2. The selection parameter of the new molecule of interest must be compared to the selection parameters of the impurity molecules within the all the molecules of interest. There should not be a match. However, if the purity of a molecule of interest after the purification is acceptable, there may be a match in selection parameter of an impurity molecule with the selection parameter of a target molecule.

Preferred Embodiment: HPLC Separation

In a preferred embodiment, between 4 and 12 molecules are selected such that they have discrete retention times in an HPLC and are mixed. The mixture is chromatographed on the HPLC and those fractions not containing one of the molecules of interest are discarded. The molecules of interest are collected and resorted according to a prearranged algorithm in a suitable receptacle or tray, preferably a 96-well plate.

Highly Preferred Embodiment: HPLC Separation

In a highly preferred embodiment, one has a method for time resolution of molecules of interest comprising six steps. First, one determines the retention time on an HPLC instrument for each molecule in a set of molecules. Second, one selects a compatible grouping of molecules to form a set of molecules by optimizing on the basis of retention time, resolvability, and column parameters. Third, one forms a mixture of the molecules of interest. Fourth, one chromatographs the mixture on the HPLC to provide separation and purification of the molecules of interest. Fifth, one collects the fractions containing the molecules of interest. Sixth, one verifies analytically the identity of each fraction.

In an additional embodiment, the set of molecules may be screened following the resolving step to determine which molecules in the set participate in a particular reaction. The method comprises the steps of selecting a group of molecules of interest that are sufficiently dissimilar to provide differing binding capabilities to form a set; forming a mixture of molecules of interest from the set; analyzing the mixture to determine the amounts of the molecules of interest; screening the mixture for a desired interaction which depletes one or more molecules of interest from the mixture; and re-analyzing the resultant mixture of molecules that did not bind to determine the molecule of interest participating in the desired reaction. The selection parameters chosen for the molecules of interest should be sufficiently distinct to enable the amounts of such molecules to be experimentally determined from the mixture. Preferably, the analyzing and re-analyzing steps are conducted on a HPLC column, and the molecules of interest have different retention times.

EXAMPLES

In order to more fully illustrate the nature of the invention and the manner of practicing the same, the following examples are provided, which are not to be construed as limiting the remainder of the disclosure or the scope of the invention in any way whatsoever.

According to the present invention, a purification of five molecules of interest was done. The compounds, 4-benzylidene-1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-2-phenyl-5(4H)-imidazolone (denoted A), 4-(3-methoxybenzylidene)-1-phenylmethyl-2-phenyl-5(4H)-imidazolone (denoted B), 4-(3-methoxybenzylidene)-1-(2-(3-methylphenyl)ethyl)-2-phenyl-5(4H)-imidazolone (denoted C), 4-(3-chlorobenzylidene)-1-(2-methylpropyl)-2-phenyl-5(4H)-imidazolone (denoted D) and 1-(2-methylpropyl)-4-(4-phenylbenzylidene)-2-phenyl-5(4H)-imadazolone (denoted E) were synthesized by thermal rearrangement from the corresponding arylidene diamides, which were in turn derived from the sequential reaction of an aryl aldehyde with 2-phenyl-(4H)-oxazol-5-one, followed by ring opening with the corresponding amine. The molecular structure of the compounds are illustrated below. These five molecules are the target molecules of this example. ##STR1##

Purity of A-E as synthesized ranged from 35-57% by HPLC analysis, as shown below in Tables 1-5.

                  TABLE 1                                                          ______________________________________                                         Peak Number    Retention Time                                                                            Area Percent                                         ______________________________________                                         1              3.08       1.30                                                 2              3.14       2.18                                                 3              7.29       3.17                                                 4              8.69       3.49                                                 5              8.90       22.41                                                6              10.94      2.89                                                 7              11.90      56.80                                                8              14.04      5.14                                                 9              17.15      2.63                                                 ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 2                                                          ______________________________________                                         Peak Number    Retention Time                                                                            Area Percent                                         ______________________________________                                         1              3.21       0.85                                                 2              9.27       2.03                                                 3              9.99       0.48                                                 4              10.77      0.78                                                 5              11.41      1.45                                                 6              12.25      0.37                                                 7              12.85      0.37                                                 8              13.15      0.39                                                 9              13.87      1.68                                                 10             14.06      0.35                                                 11             14.91      1.16                                                 12             15.86      26.81                                                13             16.38      1.26                                                 14             16.52      2.93                                                 15             16.79      0.96                                                 16             17.0       0.81                                                 17             17.98      48.82                                                18             18.38      3.78                                                 19             18.96      1.04                                                 20             19.14      2.67                                                 21             19.74      0.61                                                 22             20.54      0.41                                                 ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 3                                                          ______________________________________                                         Peak Number    Retention Time                                                                            Area Percent                                         ______________________________________                                         1              9.94       0.51                                                 2              10.33      2.87                                                 3              11.51      0.86                                                 4              12.55      1.79                                                 5              14.69      1.96                                                 6              14.95      0.64                                                 7              15.75      1.19                                                 8              16.37      0.62                                                 9              16.70      26.53                                                10             17.04      0.51                                                 11             17.18      1.94                                                 12             17.57      0.49                                                 13             18.05      4.03                                                 14             18.27      0.42                                                 15             18.60      0.46                                                 16             18.83      44.64                                                17             19.11      0.98                                                 18             19.72      5.02                                                 19             19.95      1.05                                                 20             20.13      1.56                                                 21             20.33      1.00                                                 22             20.76      0.55                                                 23             21.49      0.40                                                 ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 4                                                          ______________________________________                                         Peak Number    Retention Time                                                                            Area Percent                                         ______________________________________                                         1              3.08       0.53                                                 2              3.14       1.50                                                 3              10.14      2.03                                                 4              14.29      1.67                                                 5              15.30      2.82                                                 6              17.13      28.75                                                7              18.13      4.74                                                 8              18.72      3.42                                                 9              19.22      49.81                                                10             20.12      2.80                                                 11             20.54      1.92                                                 ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 5                                                          ______________________________________                                         Peak Number    Retention Time                                                                            Area Percent                                         ______________________________________                                         1              3.20       0.64                                                 2              7.13       1.31                                                 3              9.52       0.43                                                 4              11.51      1.01                                                 5              11.71      0.74                                                 6              12.15      2.36                                                 7              12.39      0.25                                                 8              12.74      0.18                                                 9              13.37      0.20                                                 10             14.14      0.40                                                 11             14.68      0.36                                                 12             14.84      0.48                                                 13             15.15      0.48                                                 14             15.32      0.80                                                 15             15.77      5.81                                                 16             16.12      0.28                                                 17             16.31      0.83                                                 18             16.84      0.17                                                 19             17.03      0.49                                                 20             17.43      0.29                                                 21             17.82      19.18                                                22             18.20      0.45                                                 23             18.41      0.51                                                 24             18.79      1.03                                                 25             19.09      5.46                                                 26             19.26      1.06                                                 27             19.40      1.24                                                 28             19.57      0.27                                                 29             19.93      1.23                                                 30             20.19      35.04                                                31             20.34      2.63                                                 32             20.64      1.13                                                 33             21.01      0.72                                                 34             21.27      0.48                                                 35             21.45      0.91                                                 36             21.56      0.88                                                 37             21.80      8.71                                                 38             22.34      0.70                                                 39             22.66      0.86                                                 ______________________________________                                    

A 20 mg sample of each crude mixture was combined in a holder of appropriate size and the five compounds were mixed.

This mixture was applied to a Zorbax ODS-SB RPC-18 column (25×250 mm) and eluted with a 25-100% acetonitrile-1% trifluoroacetic acid (TFA):water gradient. Only those fractions corresponding to known HPLC retention times from previous analysis were collected. The order of elution was A, B, C, D, then E at respective retention times of 25.7, 41.1, 43.1, 44.2 and 46.9 minutes. This is shown in Table 6.

                  TABLE 6                                                          ______________________________________                                                                 Height Area                                            Peak No.                                                                              Time     Type    (μV)                                                                               (μV-sec)                                                                             Area                                   ______________________________________                                         1      25.685   N1      282531  23004896                                                                               19.798                                 2      27.640   N2       4484    97192   0.083                                 3      28.028   N3       4662   104349   0.089                                 4      41.126   N       363074  25180404                                                                               21.670                                 5      43.088   N1      367402  23956860                                                                               20.617                                 6      44.191   N2      372506  22182110                                                                               19.090                                 7      46.871   N3      384929  21669772                                                                               18.649                                 Total Area                     116195583                                                                               99.996                                 ______________________________________                                    

Re-analysis of the separated compounds revealed purities of 85-97% by HPLC analysis and the identity was confirmed by mass spectrometry. This is shown in Tables 7-11.

                  TABLE 7                                                          ______________________________________                                         Peak Number    Retention Time                                                                            Area Percent                                         ______________________________________                                         1              2.75       0.00                                                 2              11.35      1.41                                                 3              11.91      95.37                                                4              12.36      3.21                                                 ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 8                                                          ______________________________________                                         Peak Number    Retention Time                                                                            Area Percent                                         ______________________________________                                         1              2.76       0.00                                                 2              15.70      1.05                                                 3              17.49      0.99                                                 4              17.90      96.77                                                5              18.29      1.19                                                 ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 9                                                          ______________________________________                                         Peak Number    Retention Time                                                                            Area Percent                                         ______________________________________                                         1              2.98       0.00                                                 2              16.57      0.97                                                 3              17.91      0.48                                                 4              18.78      95.32                                                5              19.05      3.23                                                 ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 10                                                         ______________________________________                                         Peak Number    Retention Time                                                                            Area Percent                                         ______________________________________                                         1              2.72       0.00                                                 2              15.64      1.33                                                 3              17.10      0.55                                                 4              18.79      1.56                                                 5              19.19      84.50                                                6              19.37      4.60                                                 7              19.70      7.47                                                 ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 11                                                         ______________________________________                                         Peak Number    Retention Time                                                                            Area Percent                                         ______________________________________                                         1              2.71       0.00                                                 2              17.71      1.51                                                 3              19.91      2.66                                                 4              20.18      87.89                                                5              20.41      5.13                                                 6              20.62      2.81                                                 ______________________________________                                    

Graphic representations of the data are given in FIGS. 1-3. These figures represent the chromatograms and visually demonstrate the effectiveness of the present method.

These results demonstrate that the method by which molecules of interest are first combined and then purified is an effective method of separation.

The preceding example was repeated using another set of imidazolones consisting of 4-(4-ethylbenzylidene)-1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-2-phenyl-5(4H)-imidazolone (denoted F), 4-(3-methylbenzylidene)-1-(methyl-(2-tetrahydrofuryl))-2-phenyl-5(4H)-imidazolone (denoted G), 4-(3-methylbenzylidene)-1-phenylmethyl-2-phenyl-5(4H)-imidazolone (denoted H), and 4-(4-ethylbenzylidene)-1-(1-naphthyl)-2-phenyl-5(4H)-imidazolone (denoted I) which varied in purity as synthesized from 47-76% by HPLC analysis. This data is shown in Tables 12-15.

                  TABLE 12                                                         ______________________________________                                         Peak Number    Retention Time                                                                            Area Percent                                         ______________________________________                                         1              3.08       0.56                                                 2              3.15       0.92                                                 3              10.91      24.23                                                4              12.30      3.89                                                 5              13.01      1.21                                                 6              13.46      1.52                                                 7              14.22      64.84                                                8              15.94      2.84                                                 ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 13                                                         ______________________________________                                         Peak Number    Retention Time                                                                            Area Percent                                         ______________________________________                                         1              3.08       0.44                                                 2              3.15       1.26                                                 3              4.16       3.36                                                 4              6.23       1.25                                                 5              8.61       1.64                                                 6              10.50      1.19                                                 7              13.48      25.49                                                8              16.58      63.33                                                9              16.99      2.04                                                 ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 14                                                         ______________________________________                                         Peak Number    Retention Time                                                                            Area Percent                                         ______________________________________                                         1              3.08       0.31                                                 2              3.15       0.93                                                 3              8.29       4.15                                                 4              8.62       1.01                                                 5              10.29      1.03                                                 6              10.56      3.03                                                 7              15.38      1.16                                                 8              16.29      27.71                                                9              17.59      1.31                                                 10             18.38      10.41                                                11             18.44      47.44                                                12             19.70      1.53                                                 ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 15                                                         ______________________________________                                         Peak Number    Retention Time                                                                            Area Percent                                         ______________________________________                                         1              2.70       0.02                                                 2              10.35      9.80                                                 3              12.69      2.67                                                 4              17.93      1.58                                                 5              18.15      1.43                                                 6              18.49      3.65                                                 7              19.25      1.32                                                 8              19.71      1.25                                                 9              19.96      0.98                                                 10             20.36      76.32                                                11             21.40      0.98                                                 ______________________________________                                    

Combination of a 20 mg sample of each and application to a Zorbax ODS-SB RPC-18 column (25×250 mm), followed by elution with a 25-100% acetonitrile-1% TFA:water gradient afforded samples F-I in a purified form range from 95-99% in purity and eluting at 31.2, 37.6, 42.1 and 47.0 minutes. This data is shown in Tables 16-20.

                  TABLE 16                                                         ______________________________________                                                                  Height Area                                           Peak No. Time    Type    (μV)                                                                               (μV-sec)                                                                            Area                                   ______________________________________                                         1        21.690  N       5628   100973  0.093                                           23.423  N       646    8932    0.008                                  2        24.013  N       3715   73470   0.068                                  3        26.165  N       28671  1316715 1.224                                  4        28.116  N1      12906  457401  0.425                                  5        28.751  N2      14267  36850   0.338                                  6        30.181  N3      16316  722004  0.671                                  7        31.238  N4      395451 28155410                                                                               26.179                                 8        33.510  N5      7827   176187  0.163                                           24.021  N6      909    2168    0.002                                  9        35.638  N1      37569  1652023 1.536                                  10       37.556  N2      395539 30071292                                                                               27.960                                 11       40.036  N3      62577  3573319 3.322                                  12       41.118  N4      20645  215890  0.200                                  13       41.345  N5      21146  559845  0.520                                  14       42.126  N6      400632 22544290                                                                               20.92                                  15       44.320  N7      21642  572148  0.531                                  16       44.475  N8      22374  221193  0.205                                  17       45.068  N9      75664  2466974 2.293                                  18       45.976  N10     26719  1049299 0.975                                  19       47.033  N11     406058 13051508                                                                               12.135                                 20       49.288  N12     5770   138795  0.129                                  21       49.885  N13     2640   54304   0.050                                  Total Area                      107547990                                                                              99.989                                 ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 17                                                         ______________________________________                                         Peak Number    Retention Time                                                                            Area Percent                                         ______________________________________                                         1              2.70       0.01                                                 2              11.08      3.48                                                 3              14.21      96.51                                                ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 18                                                         ______________________________________                                         Peak Number    Retention Time                                                                            Area Percent                                         ______________________________________                                         1              3.01       0.01                                                 2              12.78      0.91                                                 3              13.63      2.11                                                 4              14.25      1.99                                                 5              16.53      94.99                                                ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 19                                                         ______________________________________                                         Peak Number    Retention Time                                                                            Area Percent                                         ______________________________________                                         1              2.92       0.00                                                 2              16.33      2.64                                                 3              17.78      0.36                                                 4              18.42      96.00                                                ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 20                                                         ______________________________________                                         Peak Number    Retention Time                                                                            Area Percent                                         ______________________________________                                         1              2.90       0.00                                                 2              18.47      1.26                                                 3              20.38      98.73                                                ______________________________________                                     

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for purifying molecules which comprises:determining one or more selection parameters for a plurality of molecules; selecting a compatible grouping of molecules based on said selection parameters to form a set; combining a mixture of compatible crude molecules of interest from the set, wherein the molecules are derived from parallel syntheses; and resolving the mixture based on at least one of the selection parameters to fractionate the mixture by simultaneous preparative chromatography processing, separating each molecule of interest from the other molecules of interest in the mixture, increasing the purity of each molecule of interest.
 2. The method according to claim 1 which further comprises determining at least one selection parameter for a molecule experimentally.
 3. The method according to claim 2 which further comprises determining all selection parameters experimentally.
 4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the selection step comprises selecting a group of molecules that have differing binding capabilities to form the set.
 5. The method according to claim 4 which further comprises screening the mixture after the resolving step for a desired interaction that depletes one or more of the molecules of interest from the mixture, and re-analyzing the resultant mixture of molecules which did not bind to determine the molecule of interest participating in the desired reaction.
 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the selection parameters for the molecules of interest are sufficiently distinct to enable the amounts of such molecules to be experimentally determined from the mixture.
 7. The method according to claim 6 wherein the molecules of interest have different retention times and the analyzing and re-analyzing steps are conducted on a HPLC column.
 8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining a chromatographic retention time for each molecule in the mixture as the selection parameter, and fractionating the mixture chromatographically, based on the retention time of each molecule in the mixture, to increase the purity of all of the molecules of interest.
 9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the purity of the crude molecules is increased by chromatographically separating the mixture on an HPLC column.
 10. A method for the time resolution of molecules which comprises:determining the retention time on a chromatography system for each molecule of interest in a plurality of molecules; selecting a compatible grouping of crude molecules to form a set on the basis of retention time, resolvability, and system parameters; combining a mixture of the compatible crude molecules of interest from the set, wherein the molecules are derived from parallel syntheses; simultaneously preparative chromatographing the mixture to provide separation and purification of the molecules of interest based on their retention times; collecting the fractions which contain the molecules of interest; and verifying analytically the identity of the molecule of interest in each fraction.
 11. The method according to claim 10 which further comprises forming a compatible grouping of between 4 and 12 molecules of interest based on distinct retention times of each target molecule of the grouping; mixing the grouping of molecules; and chromatographically separating the mixture to increase the purity of at least some of the target molecules therein.
 12. The method according to claim 11 wherein the mixture is chromatographically separated to increase the purity of all of the target molecules therein.
 13. The method according to claim 10 wherein the chromatography system is a HPLC system and which further comprises forming a compatible grouping of between 4 and 12 crude molecules of interest based on distinct retention times of each target molecule of the grouping; mixing the grouping of molecules; and chromatographically separating the mixture on a HPLC column to increase the purity of at least some of the target molecules therein.
 14. The method according to claim 13 wherein the mixture is chromatographically separated on the HPLC column to increase the purity of all of the target molecules therein.
 15. The method according to claim 13 wherein the compatible grouping includes between 4 to 6 crude molecules of interest, at least one of which is chromatographically separated to increase the purity of that molecule to at least 65%.
 16. The method according to claim 15 wherein the purity of at least some of the crude molecules of interest is increased to about 80%.
 17. The method according to claim 15 wherein the purity of all of the crude molecules of interest is increased to at least about 80%.
 18. The method according to claim 13 wherein the retention time of each target molecule is between 15 and 90 seconds different from the retention time of any other target molecule.
 19. The method according to claim 13 wherein the retention time of each target molecule is between 15 and 90 seconds different from the retention time of any other molecule. 